Didn't have to be
by wanderingsmith
Summary: S/J, D/V - Reflection on friends and the years
1. Cass

Summary: Reflection on friends and the years  
Rating: PG13  
Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this.

AN: _listening to Brad Paisley - He didn't have to be on the drive home from a holiday, I suddenly saw this_

**Chapter one**

Cassie rested, exhausted, sore and blinking back tears. Looking at Jack, no longer the man in his prime that rescued her but still tall and strong -her children's grandfather by any other name-; the only father she remembered, playful or authoritative as needed. At the brilliant, hesitantly loving woman held tight to his side, who had become her third mother, just as dear and loving as the first; Teal'c, the uncle that should be a grandfather, bulwark of unconditional strength and loyalty. Daniel, and even Cameron and Vala, the older friends -like her father, greying and more weathered than when she met them-, always there for her, accomplices against authority or shoulders to cry foul against her parents upon. And, always last somehow, Jonas, in and out of her life, closer to her for always being a little apart from everyone else. She'd tried to be for him as the others had been for her; compensation for the rest of a world that was distant.

Not one of them related by blood, to her or each other, and yet they had raised her, each in their own way; and she knew they would continue the circle with Gabriel, come what may. Cassie looked down at the tiny creature in her arms, utterly dependent on the mercy of others to survive and thrive. His eyes closed now, mouth bowed as he slept, unconcerned about the gathering in his honour, no doubt absorbing as much of the safety the people in the room exuded as she had as a small child.

Jack's sudden, heartfelt, laughter, for so long a never-heard sound, brought her attention back up to the hospital room full of, for lack of a better word, eccentrics -aliens, geniuses and disobedient soldiers?- and she smiled in unavoidable response to the sound of happiness, watching them *all* and aware of their shared joy. These were people that had seen hardships and horror and whose smiles, let along their laughter, were rare, precious things.

She hoped she proved worthy of their years of unconditional love and support; prayed she could do half as well with her flesh and blood as they had with a literal alien. Could build onto the foundation they had fought to lay a family as solid and powerful as they had provided her.


	2. Jack

**Chapter 2: Jack**

He probably should feel old, Jack thought. With Cass' baby in the crook of his right arm and his still so-much-younger Carter tucked under his left. But all he felt was peace. Sitting on his well-used couch, his knees extended and unstressed, his body warm from the fire a few feet away and heated inside from a celebratory single malt.

Watching their friends -family- gathered, his ghosts were quiet, sitting behind him and letting themselves be pacified -for now- by the feeling in the air. Anyway, they were scared of Carter and stepped far more lightly these days.

He couldn't rustle any sadness, even looking at Daniel, getting more grey than brown, getting scruffier with every year; Vala's idea of wifing had never included making him 'clean up'. She was content with helping her eccentric professor interpret squiggles on tablets and still as likely to dress in leathers as in pastel sweaters, regardless of wrinkles, slowed joints and a few extra pounds.

Still as lively. She was gesturing at her husband where they stood next to the bookcase with T'. The seemingly ageless Jaffa was changed too, if barely; a very few lines, an illusion of grey in the pitch black hair. These days, their combat training was with the descendant of the Xbox -Carter's threats if he ever thought of anything else were only there to save his pride from having to demur on his own-; he didn't even want to *think* about trying to move fast enough to duck even T's *slowest* punch. The big guy still fought the baddies of the moment of course, and trained the next generation of warriors, both Tau'ri and Jaffa. Not to mention grandfathering a couple of rugrats of his own with the sometime company of his stubborn warrior-lady.

Jack smirked at the thought; he wondered what Carter would do to him if he called her his warrior-lady when they went to bed tonight... His family-watching ended with Cameron and Jonas, still the bachelors of the gang. 'Young' Cam was getting long in the tooth these days, a lot more settled with those heavy stars on his epaulets. Standing near the end of the couch, talking with Cass and Jonas, Jack hoped the rumours of a mysterious lady-love in his life were true; the boy certainly looked a little more interested in the world lately. And in babies...

Unlike Jonas, still focused on helping his people rise from the ashes, yearning to keep learning everything in existence; friend to all women, in love with none. Not that he didn't love, Jack thought, noticing the watchful eyes he kept on still-tired Cass. Her big brother today; though Jack could think of days when she seemed the more mature one.

His focus zoomed back in as Samantha giggled softly. She was sitting sideways, legs tucked under her and her cheek laid on his heart -an old, well-practiced position-, one finger grasped by baby Gabe as she wiggled it gently, testing his grip, challenging his mind to focus on her and building muscles; the movement twin to that of her other hand, slipped between two buttons of Jack's shirt and absently stroking back and forth. He didn't notice the completely familiar swell of love in him as he watched her grin goofily at the infant that was in effect their grandchild. Asgards but he loved this woman!

The dimmed lights played in her hair, very pale these days, not fully white like his had been for years, but as much a sign of time as the creases at the corners of her lips. Time they'd spent together, watching Cass, watching the new generation of world-savers, smiling at each other and their friends; every wrinkle a medal to survival and hard-earned joy. Her eyes still shined with enthusiasm and curiosity, just as they had when their gazes first clashed across a meeting table, but these days it was for quiet -safe!- research and writing, and she was actually quite willing to take a day off to indulge him when he wrangled a day away from *his* damned job that was *supposed* to be *part-time* consultancy.

She looked up suddenly and met his happy grin as he thought of all those stolen days, her eyes softening with love he still sometimes found hard to believe. He bent his head and dropped a lingering kiss on her forehead, the taste of her skin as familiar as her shape along his body. She whispered, "I love you." As her breath in his soul...


End file.
